Friday, January 13, 2006

Back to Work

Today's FAQ is: are you ever going back to work?

Yes. As a matter of fact, I started today. Through a bizarre and sudden sequence of events, I found myself in front of a group of community college students again tonight. I'm only teaching one lecture and one lab, but the hours are good (evening and weekend) and the money is better. It's been 3 years since I last taught, and I was off to a rough start because for some reason the duplicating office, which was already closed, didn't photocopy my syllabus, and the self-copier was out of paper. And then on top of it, I had to ask one of my students if I was in the right class because the department head said he was going to switch my classroom and then ended up not doing it. Because I was hired on at the last minute, I only had the textbook but no CD images (apparently no one uses overheads anymore), so the students had to rely on my scribbles and scratches on the board. They must've thought I was clueless. Fortunately, teaching is like riding a bike, because as soon as I opened my mouth, words gushed out (common even when I'm not teaching). You know how I ramble on about nothing sometimes? Well, I'm lucky my ramblings were on topic tonight. Seemed to work okay, though, because only one student fell asleep, and he later came up to apologize and blame it on his medication.

Ah, but it was great to be back. The rush that I get up there, the funny but inquisitive questions they ask, and their look when they finally get something they've been taught so many times before, there's nothing like it.

By the way, Lorna, I found your twin. Her name is Angela and she sits in the second row in the middle aisle.